Assisted living caregivers arrested after resident with dementia reportedly restrained with duct tape

Two caregivers at a Florida assisted living community were arrested after one allegedly used duct tape to restrain and silence a resident who has dementia and the other allegedly knew about but did not report the incident.

Phygelle Brudent, 44, and Lashron Williams, 52, were arrested Thursday and charged with false imprisonment and elder abuse for the alleged July 3 incident at Colonial Assisted Living at Boynton Beach, according to the Boynton Beach Police Department. The community until several months ago was known as Regal Park Assisted Living and is identified as such in the police report.

According to a police report, a detective and officer, as well as an adult protective services investigator, went to the facility Thursday in response to a report made to the state Department of Children and Family Services. At the facility, Brudent reportedly told authorities that she had tied the resident to a chair by wrapping pajama pants around her waist and then used duct tape to tie the resident’s hands and feet to the chair and to tape her mouth shut.

“Phygelle said she tied the victim because she was frustrated about the victim’s inability to remain quiet, as she said she had other patients to take care of,” the report said.

The detective writing the police report said he “saw evidence that showed the victim tied to a chair with duct tape in a room at the facility.”

Williams, according to police, admitted seeing the resident with tape around her mouth. “She said at some point during the event, she had to remove the tape around the victim’s amount to give her sleeping pills,” the report said. “She said she then removed small portion of the tapes around the victim’s body, but she never reported the incident to anyone. She said she discussed it with Phygelle and told her tying the victim to the chair was wrong.”

The resident was not able to discuss the alleged incident due to her dementia, police said.

Allison Underwood, identified by WPLG as the quality assurance adviser for the community, told the Miami TV station that the company takes the allegations seriously and is conducting an internal review. Brudent and Williams no longer work for the operator, she said.

Both Brudent and Williams were in Palm Beach County Jail on Friday.

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Lois has spent almost her entire career covering healthcare, the business of healthcare and related topics via journalism or public relations. She holds a master's degree in journalism and mass communication from Kent State University (media management) and is the recipient of the Jesse H. Neal National Business Journalism Award as well as other honors.

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